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DHS to regulate ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil commonly is used as an explosive in mining and has been used by terrorists — such as Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma; DHS proposes to regulate its use
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Briefly noted
Decision in Defense procurement case could set precedent… Elbit completes acquisition of Innovative Concepts for $15 million… Huntsville grows into major explosives hub
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Some federal agencies fail to meet secure ID October deadline
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had set 27 October as the deadline for agencies to issue the cards to all federal employees and contractors; 28 percent of the federal employee workforce and 30 percent of contractors who require the cards have received credentials
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U.S. debates creating domestic intelligence agency
A new RAND study examines the benefits of creating a domestic intelligence agency; research group offers a break-even analysis of the various counterterrorism organizational options
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Interpol plans facial recognition database to catch suspects
Every year more than 800 million international travelers fail to undergo the most basic scrutiny to check whether their identity documents have been stolen, Interpol has warned; the organization plans a massive face-recognition database
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HHS offers legal shield to anthrax manufacturers, distributors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers legal shield to manufacturers and distributors of anthrax vaccines and treatments under a “public health emergency” to be in effect until the end of 2015
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Unsettling lack of security at Level 4 Biosafety Labs
Biosafety labs (BSLs) handle the world’s most dangerous agents and diseases; only BSL-4 labs can work with agents for which no cure or treatment exists; there are five BSL-4 labs in the United States, and GAO conducted a study of these labs’ perimeter security; you are not going to like what the GAO found
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Chertoff urges industry to invest in cybersecurity
About 85 percent of the U.S. critical infrastructure is owned and operated by private industry; DHS secretary Chertoff says this fact makes cybersecurity a shared responsibility between government and the corporations that control most computer networks
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FBI worried about increased cyber crime
Head of the FBI cyber division says the number of victims of cyber crime, and the cost of that crime, are increasing; moreover, as many as two dozen countries have taken an “aggressive interest” in penetrating the networks of U.S. companies and government agencies
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Chertoff says there will be no Big Brother approach to Internet security
Earlier this year Director of U.S. National Intelligence Mike McConnell said the government would require broad powers to monitor all Internet traffic in order to secure the U.S. critical information infrastructure; Chertoff outlines a more modest approach
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Body-armor manufacturer settles with U.S. Justice Department
The U.S. Justice Department charged that a body armor manufacturer knowingly used Zylon fiber in body army it sold to the federal government and local law enforcement; Zylon fiber degrades quickly and is not suitable for ballistic use
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ISF annual congress in Barcelona, 16-18 November
More than 500 IT security leaders will meet in Barcelona in November for the ISF 19th annual congress
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New surveillance program will use military satellites to cover U.S.
President Bush signed bill which allows the National Applications Office (NAO) to begin operating a stringently limited version of a program which would turn military spy satellites on the United States, sharing imagery with other federal, state, and local government agencies
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Alternatives to the H-1B visa, pt. 2: L-1 "International Transferees"
The demand for H1-B visas far outstrips its supply; one alternative is the L-1 visa which allows companies to transfer employees to, and allows investors to form start-up operations in, the United States
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Group tells FTC more RFID security guidance is needed
As RFID technology proliferates, so do worries about its potential for violating people’s privacy. the Federal Trade Commission is charged with protecting consumers, and privacy advocates urge it to take a close look at RFID
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The long view
Cyber and international law in the 21st century
“Cyber space is not – and must never be – a lawless world. It is the U.K.’s view that when states and individuals engage in hostile cyber operations, they are governed by law just like activities in any other domain,” said the U.K. Attorney General Jeremy Wright, QC MP, on 23 May 2018, setting out, for the first time, the U.K.’s position on applying international law to cyberspace. “What this means is that hostile actors cannot take action by cyber means without consequence, both in peacetime and in times of conflict. States that are targeted by hostile cyber operations have the right to respond to those operations in accordance with the options lawfully available to them and that in this as in all things, all states are equal before the law.”
Failing to keep pace: The cyber threat and its implications for our privacy laws
“The time has come — indeed, if it has not already passed — to think seriously about some fundamental questions with respect to our reliance on cyber technologies: How much connected technology do we really want in our daily lives? Do we want the adoption of new connected technologies to be driven purely by innovation and market forces, or should we impose some regulatory constraints?” asked NSA General Counsel Glenn Gerstell in a Wednesday presentation at Georgetown University. “Although we continue to forge ahead in the development of new connected technologies, it is clear that the legal framework underpinning those technologies has not kept pace. Despite our reliance on the internet and connected technologies, we simply haven’t confronted, as a U.S. society, what it means to have privacy in a digital age.”